Wicklow Sinn Féin TD John Brady has reacted angrily to the leaking of the report by the Housing Commission by stating that the report represented a damning indictment of the governments failed housing policy, Brady also boldly claimed that only a Sinn Féin government can deliver the radical solutions required to solve the country’s housing crisis. His comments come as the leaked report identified Wicklow alongside Dublin as the most expensive county in the state to be a first-time buyer in the housing market.
The next ten years will see a need for up to 256,000 new houses to meet current housing demands, not to mention increased demand from population increases in that period, as the government continues to fail to meet its own inadequate targets.
Brady said:
“The report by the housing commission is a damning indictment of the government’s failed and discredited housing strategy. They have failed to grasp the mantle of the challenge, wiping out the ambitions of thousands of ordinary workers and families who dream of owning their own home.
Arguably, if the report had not been leaked to the media, it is debatable if the government would have ever released, such is the damning nature of its content.
Let us be very clear however, the buck for this stops entirely outside the door of the Taoiseach Simon Harris. Rather than grasp the crisis in housing, the Greystones Taoiseach is more concerned at engaging in Trump-like attempts at misinformation and parsing of the truth of the crisis.
Which is that the government has failed and continues to fail to address the housing crisis.
The report points to ineffective and risk averse decision making. It argues that barriers to the delivery of social housing need to be removed, calling for social and affordable housing delivery to increase to 20% of total housing stock. This would require at least half of all new homes to be affordable and social.
It calls for urgent action, speaking of the need for emergency legislation to address the housing deficit.
The report further accused the government of a ‘failure to treat housing as a critical social and economic priority’.
I want to ask the Taoiseach to step out from behind the current government tirade of obfuscation and honestly address the ordinary people of Wicklow who have been priced out of the property market. Who are paying the highest house prices, and rental prices in the state outside of Dublin.
What has Simon Harris got to say to the people of his own hometown of Greystones, where according to Myhome.ie the asking price for a three-bedroom house now stands at €592,000 as opposed to a national average of €397,000 for the same three-bedroom home.
Can Simon Harris explain to ordinary workers and families in Wicklow where they are going to get the additional €200,000 from?
What will he say to those in the rental sector in his hometown, a three-bedroom house on Daft.ie is renting at €3,700 a month, or €920 a week?
Where a two-bedroom apartment costs €2,281 a week, or €570 a week.
How does he honestly think that first time buyers are going to be able to get together the deposit, never mind meet the soul crushing mortgage payments?
To top off the fact that the government can’t meet its own housing targets there are 2,000 vacant and boarded up homes across the state, 145 of which are in Wicklow.”
Brady continued:
“The fact that a government-appointed body of experts have levelled such damning criticism at the government’s housing policy is further evidence that their own housing plan is not working.
I do not believe that the government is capable of adapting to meet the recommendations of the report, but It is also clear that they have no intention of attempting to change course now.
The reality is that only a Sinn Féin-led government, with a housing plan focused on delivering tens of thousands of affordable homes for working people can deliver the radical reset of housing policy that the Housing Commission is calling for, and which the people of Wicklow are demanding.”